I just got a ton of rice in bags that I am running though stoker. Why is the coal in the bags wet? Every were in my manual it says not to burn wet coal so I have been leaving a bag near the stove to try and dry it out some. I have see the last two times I loaded the hopper that there has been some moisture in the back two corners of the hopper and some coal sticking. I'm thinking of filling a coal bucket and staging it closer to the stove to dry the coal out more before I burn it. I'm thinking the coal bin is going to move up the list so I can get some bulk. Bulk should be dry when I get it right?? Is bagged coal typicaly wet or did I get a bad skid?

Depending on where you supplier stores it, most are stored outside and will get rained on and get some moisture in the coal bags. Being slighlty damp, also keep the dust down too. I had normally piled the bags up in the basement and some of the moisture will run out of the bags and stopped after a while. Probably as long as it doens't clump too much together, you should be okay.

Your stove should not have a problem burning it wet. If you dry it out you will get black dust every time you pour it into the hopper. If you have your stove in a finished living area, I think you would be better off to leave it wet. Just my 2 cents..

The rust is the only issue and if you read the manual for example on a old Van Wert they reccomend that it be damp, not sure why.

It's wet because water is used extensively during processing, when it comes out od the breaker it's completely soaked most of the water drains out from the large piles outside the breaker. From there it goes on stockpiles or loaded into trucks, it's always outside and the rice can stay damp on the insuide of stockpile for weeks without rain. In the case of nut and pea it's washed again over screen with water jets to remove any particles that were generated from falling out of the breaker, moving it around etc. This more than makes up for the water content plus you don't want a dry load of coal going in your basement, trust me. Smaller sizes like rice and buck are generally not washed again but may be if they are really dry.

This water may amount to next to nothing for nut or as much as 50 pounds by my guess for Rice over 1 ton of coal.